C is for Concise and Clear

posted on Wednesday, 17th February 2010 | find under

Image: www.chrishigginbottom.com

YAY Betties ... this is the last in my series on goal setting. And with those Winter Olympics now well underway in Vancouver (how cool does it look there by the way) what a perfect time to be hitting this latest blog. "C is for Concise and Clear." Could anything be a better example than the desire to win a gold medal at the Olympics? That's serious clarity.

I don't know about you but I have encountered people in my life who have had this sense of clarity about their life goal from a fairly young age. And what stands out about this is that they have reached their goals.

The first was a chap called Chris Higginbottom, he was a drummer in a band I played in at school and he was always an exceptional drummer. I also had a massive crush on him for a period of time when I had those pubescant hormones raging but that's a story for another time. Anyway, Chris just wanted to be a jazz drummer. He honed his skills, he had special 'drummer' muscles in his arms, he took a year out to wait for the right place to come up at the best music academy with the best teacher. And now ... he's an award winning jazz drummer, living in Brooklym. His business card reads: "Chris Higginbottom, Jazz drummer."!

The next example is someone I met at University. As an eager fresher, I signed up to become a journalist with University Radio Exeter (URE). As well as getting up at the crack of dawn (6am is seriously early when you're a student) to read the news, we often went to interview University dignitaries, such as Student Union Reps , or even to gather vox-pops at significant events. And in the days before widespread digital media (this was 1995) we used a Uher. This cumbersome reel-to-reel instrument had a massive mic attached. Anyway - to get back to the story, my trainer on this modern technology was an older student called Ted Kravitz (real name Theodore Slotover). He was URE royalty and a teensy bit arrogant but he had this passion for Formula 1. His life goal - and we all knew about it - was to commentate on F1. And do you know what? He does!

Ted Kravitz, F1 pit lane reporter. Image: Dan Smith

These men have taught me that this stuff really works.

When you write down your goals, make sure they are concise and clear enough that you could explain them to someone in one, short sentence.

Have think about people you've encountered in your life who had a clear goal. It may be a massive life goal that they are now living but it might also be someone who was determined to run in a 5K race. You probably don't have to think hard about these people - what could your encounters with them be teaching you about life?

Well Betties. I truly hope that even since we started this goal setting journey and Sweaty Betty's Fit for Free campaign that changes have happened in your life. Do get in touch and let me know what you're up to, especially if you've got an event coming up and you want cheering on. I might even turn up with that old fashioned Uher!

Next time I'm going to be writing all about red-carpet workouts .. see you then